CONFESSION UNDER DURESS TRIAL
CONFESSION UNDER DURESS FREE

In any criminal trial, a defendant is entitled to the following rights:.International Sources International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Finally, some practitioners have concluded that only video-taped or audio-recorded confessions should be admissible. For this reason, some academics have concluded that all confessions should be accompanied stronger corroborative evidence. One study determined that false confessions may occur without any coercive police practices. The demand for corroboration decreases the risk of false confessions and requires police to conduct investigations beyond simple interrogation. Sometimes called the Corpus Delecti ('The Body of the Crime'), the standard of proof required for corroboration varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

CONFESSION UNDER DURESS TRIAL

The final factors are external forces that put may put pressure on defendants to make false confessions.īecause of the risk of false confession, it is often the case that the trial court will require some additional corroborating evidence before an individual may be convicted on a confession alone. The second cluster of factors are the conditions of confinement and methods of interrogation that bear on the defendant prior to the confession. Defendants are more likely to confess when they have difficulty differentiating reality from fiction, they are self-destructive or desire to confess out of overwhelming guilt for past behaviors. The first factor examined the defendant's personality. The famous Goldberg Commission Report identified three factors that would increase the likelihood of a false confession.

Under this test, the confession may be inadmissible even if it was given voluntarily. The second category of reasons asks the fact finder to examine the procedural aspects of the interrogation to determine if police followed procedures that are required under the law. In either case, failure to get a confession excluded from consideration at trial does not prevent the defense attorney from arguing that the confession is inherently unreliable and that the factfinder should consider the circumstances surrounding the interrogation when deliberating at the conclusion of the trial. In a civil law / inquisitorial system the defense attorney should argue that the confession should be nullified. In common law/adversarial criminal justice systems the defense attorney should argue that the confession should be exclusion.

Finally, in some jurisdictions police deception or trickery, even if not coercive, may lead the confession to be inadmissible. Cases of coercion or duress fall in the middle category where international jurisdictions differ as to what level of coercion or duress is necessary to trigger inadmissibility of a confession. The most obvious case to argue for the inadmissibility of evidence is when a confession is the direct result of torture or other inhuman and degrading treatment. Each interrogation must be examined on its own facts. If it was involuntary, then it should be inadmissible because it is inherently unreliable.ĭefense counsel may argue that a confession is involuntary if it is the product of torture, coercion, duress or even police trickery. If it is voluntary, then it may be admissible. The first category of reasons asks the factfinder to determine whether the confession was voluntary in nature. A defense attorney should be prepared to argue that these confessions are inadmissible as evidence against their client.Ĭonfessions may be inadmissible for a variety of reasons but generally these can be classified into two categories.

CONFESSION UNDER DURESS FREE

Second, they act as a deterrent to abusive interrogation by the police.Ĭonfessions may be obtained by interrogation techniques that violate the defendant's free will or procedural rights. First, they serve to guarantee that wrongful conviction does not occur. Many countries have complex rules for the admissibility of confessions. Confessions are sometimes called the 'Queen of Evidence'. 3 Examples of standards for the admissibility of confessionsĭespite increased evidence that confessions may be unreliable, they remain the gold standard of evidence for police investigations.

2.1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Confession under duress